Sole Saginaw County tax request to fail this week was for Richland Township roads

RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, MI — The only tax request that failed in Saginaw County on Tuesday was one in Richland Township, aimed at fixing roads.

Voters approved four countywide millages on the Aug. 5 primary ballot, as well as tax requests ranging from roads to libraries to police support in the townships of Saginaw, Tittabawassee Township, Albee, Bridgeport, Marion, Maple Grove, James, Zilwaukee and the Reese Public Schools district.

A stretch of M-46 in Richland Township. Voters in the township will have the ability to vote on a proposed road millage, which could generate nearly $300,000 dollars in the first year according to the millage language. RJ Wolcott | MLive.com

In Richland Township, 51.5 percent of voters cast ballots against the 2-mill road maintenance proposal. Supervisor Brian Frederick said he was disappointed with the decision. This is the second road millage to fail in recent memory, according to Frederick.

"We're not going to be able to improve the roads, and instead we'll keep plugging along with repairs," Frederick said.

While he had hoped to make more progress in the next 10 years, Frederick said the county won't be able to unless an additional source of funding arises.

Of the close to 3,000 registered voters in Richland Township, 827 voiced their opinions in Tuesday's primary. There were 401 in favor and 426 opposed to the tax, according to unofficial results from Saginaw County.

Richland Township, which lies 10 miles west of Saginaw, is a 36-square-mile community with a population of 4,281.

In attempting to understand why the proposal failed, Frederick said there wasn't enough information dispersed to the community.

Other small communities with road millages on the ballot adopted their measures Tuesday. Both Marion and Albee townships passed road maintenance millages, further frustrating Frederick.

"I'm very disappointed we were unable to pass this millage when other townships were able to," Frederick said.

The 2-mill proposal would have generated close to $2.8 million during its 10-year lifespan, according to the tax language.

RJ Wolcott is a reporter for MLive/The Saginaw News. Contact him at 989-280-3850, or by email at rwolcott@mlive.com